http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3455 Plotting and Uncovering Plots JINSA Report #581 7 July 2006
If you were investigating a plot to blow up the Holland Tunnel and flood lower Manhattan, a la lower New Orleans, would you rather have The New York Times or the government of Lebanon as your ally? The Supreme Court (which ruled that terror suspects have rights under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions even though they are neither American service personnel - to whom the UCMJ pertains - nor adherents to the requirements of the Convention) or the government of Lebanon? The Italian judiciary or the government of Lebanon? Score one for Lebanon. Amir Andalousli, a suspected member of al Qaeda, was arrested in Beirut. The Lebanese government had planned to announce the arrest, according to The Daily News (NY), but when the U.S. expressed interest in him, "U.S. agents were allowed to take part in the interrogation of Andalousli" and the investigation was "kept under wraps for months while the FBI and NY police worked to arrest co-conspirators." How do you suppose U.S. agents learned about the plot? President Bush once said, "If al Qaeda is calling you, we want to know why." It is unclear whether NSA wiretaps on phone calls coming into the country from known/suspected al Qaeda sources overseas had anything to do with it, but we imagine so and hope so as we wonder whether that investigative resource has closed in the intervening months because of the NYT story. And we should be pleased that Andalousli was captured neither here nor in Italy. Italian judicial authorities are currently seeking the extradition of 22 CIA agents and decapitating their own Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI), NOT over an intelligence FAILURE, but over SUCCESSFUL cooperation with the U.S. According to the Italian press, the director of SISMI's division dealing with international terrorism and the head of the agency's operations in northern Italy have been arrested for cooperating in the arrest of a radical Egyptian cleric believed to have fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia and served as a recruiting agent for al Qaeda. ([The Bosnian government has been a major ally against terrorist recruitment and transit on its soil] ). We don't think the Italians would have invoked the UCMJ for Andalousli had they caught him, but the rights of identified soldiers belonging to signatories of the Geneva Convention surely would have been accorded the terrorist planning to blow up the Holland Tunnel. And they probably wouldn't have allowed U.S. investigators to interrogate him, lest we ask harsh questions. The tunnel scheme, it appears was based on faulty engineering principles, however the plan was apparently far more serious and advanced than the "Miami Seven" operation detailed last week by the FBI. Even if they couldn't flood lower Manhattan, a bomb in the tunnel would have been catastrophic for New York and for the country. Bravo to the FBI, the CIA and - oddly - thank you to the government of Lebanon for applying what mechanisms still exist to capture those who seek our destruction. JINSA 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW Suite 515 Washington, DC 20036 202-667-3900 202-667-0601 Fax To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below. Have a comment on this JINSA Report? Send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> to let us know. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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